Sunny April
by Araceil
Summary: Skull was just a name. But the past can't stay buried forever. Genderbend, Ministry!Bashing, mild-Ginny!bashing, Violin!love, Reborn/Skull


**Sunny April**

_**000**_

**Skull was just a name. But the past can't stay buried forever. Genderbend, Ministry!Bashing, Reborn/Skull, violin!love.**

_**000**_

**Chapter One**

Skull was just a name.

It wasn't really _his_ name. But it was a name that he went by. It was a name he carried for years. Longer than anyone had cared to know him in all honesty. Longer still than he could care to remember – if he could forget his life before he went by Skull he would be happy. If everyone could forget there was ever anyone before Skull, that would be even better.

But nothing remains secret forever.

He more than anyone knew that best of all. Secrets, old and new, lost and forgotten, fresh and painful, he was notorious for ferreting them out, their truths and their entireties, in his youth. He should have known better. He should have known that the past rarely ever remains buried.

He had just hoped it would take longer to dig up. But when has Fate ever smiled on him?

_**000**_

Skull had always hated summer, since childhood right up until adulthood. Summers as a teenager were tests of his ability to endure, endure boredom, endure hatred, endure violence, endure endless work, endure starvation. Endless strife and the ability to _endure_ were pounded into him by merciless summers and meaty fists. Then it became a different kind of endurance test. The kind that boiled him within his own motorcycle suit that he refused to be parted with, no matter how hot, how sweaty, or how painful – because sweating and scars were _agonising_ – the leathers and protective padding became, never once did he peel away those shielding layers. He endured.

Then came the Arcobaleno curse, and there was a whole different level of endurance there. Endure Reborn and his bitchy little fits, endure Lal and Cornello and Viper, endure Luce fading and passing, endure Aria vanishing, endure being alone, endure being pressed into service by the Carcassa, endure the pain of rejection because of them. Then the Game began and he had to endure having only one person willing to help him, endure the pain of _knowing_ he would never get this curse broken. Endure the guilt and self-loathing because he _knew_, he _**knew**_ that if he swallowed his damn pride he could break this curse, free the others at the same time, but in doing so would have to give up _everything_. So he bit his tongue. And he endured. He endured as Bermuda staved his skull in. He endured being aware in a coma in the hospital.

And then the curse was broken thanks to the Young Vongola's efforts and his allies. How did one go about thanking someone for giving back something so precious?

No longer did Skull have to endure the curse. Endure the guilt. The self-loathing. Death was never a cause for concern, he should have died many times over, the idea of dying was not a frightening one to him as much as living forever did. How did he thank young Tsunayoshi for giving him his life back?

Skull didn't know. But he left the Carcassa Famiglia immediately who were still at odds with the Vongola. They didn't notice for almost a year, which only went to show how important he was to them. Even more so that none of them had bothered to try and aid him in the Arcobaleno Battles.

For four years Skull travelled alone, his ageing coming in sporadic bursts and shoots as one day he would look three and the next appear almost seven and remain that way for almost eight months before ageing barely a year. It was a curious thing, but when it finally came to a stop, his bones burned for almost three months until everything settled down. He had been in Canada during that time and almost immediately burst back onto the stunt scene, loud, boisterous, and with a passion for life that he'd forgotten he possessed as all those things he loved to do were finally returned to him.

Being in the body of a toddler meant that he could no longer reach the peddles of a motorbike. Which _sucked_.

Now though. Now, he was back!

And then Cornello and Reborn tracked him down to drag him back.

_**000**_

Handstand on the back of a motorbike going a hundred and thirty miles an hour: No problem.

Handstand on the back of a motorbike going a hundred and thirty miles an hour while jumping over three monster-trucks: You think that's hard, fucking insulting his greatness is what it is!

Handstand, axe-kick on the back of a backflipping motorbike going a hundred and thirty miles an hour while jumping over three monster-trucks through a ring of fire while pyrotechnics exploded everywhere and people screamed and cheered his name with heavy rock blasting out of the speakers: Now that was right up his alley!

Skull laughed raucously as he twisted in mid-air, grabbing the handlebars of his bike and twisting the whole monstrous machine around in mid-air, under him and -

CLAAAAAAANG – RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMM

Landing flawlessly, streaking down the other ramp as men and women and children leapt up from their seats going crazy as he skidded violently in the dirt, sending clouds of dust dramatically in the air even as he hopped to his feet and stood on top of the still moving motorbike, making 'gimme gimme' gestures to the crowds who were still going absolutely fucking bug-nuts.

He loved this. Loved the burn in his veins. Loved the way childrens faces lit up after his stunts. Loved the purr of an engine between his legs. Loved the smell of fireworks, cheap food, and petrol in the air.

He slid backwards on the bike, and then lifted the front wheel.

Riding out of the stage in a wheelie, waving to the kiddies as he went.

The performer's parking lot was much quieter and thankfully far enough away from the arena that the crowd was a low distant roar, easily ignored. Parking up his beloved bike, he paused momentarily to pick out the ladies lingerie someone had thrown at him from his beloved bike and tossed them over his shoulder as he unlocked and entered into his trailer. He would love his bike forever and a day, but this had an actual bed and a motherfucking shower.

Drawing the curtains, locking the door, he stripped off as he made his way to the shower, spending ten minutes just languishing under the hot water spray before it went cold and unpleasant. He whined but quickly went about his clean up from then, make up washing off and down the drain.

Shivering violently as he turned the spray off, scarred hands groped outside the cubicle for a towel and hastily wrapped it around his scrawny self before stepping out, still shuddering even as he squirmed into a thick fluffy dressing gown before reaching for another towel to scrub through his hair. He meandered back into the main room and tugged open a draw, grabbing clean underwear from within he bumped the draw shut just as his front door opened.

Reborn and Cornello had literally a split second to spot Skull, towel half over his face, in his dressing gown holding a pair of women's underwear – similar to the pair they'd seen discarded outside and getting thrown at the stuntman earlier – before he released the girliest shriek the two of them had heard out of him yet.

That was when Cornello got a broomstick shoved in his face and fell back on his ass. Reborn snorted in amusement before the door snapped shut and they could hear Skull screeching furiously at them as the trailer rocked around a bit as he no doubt threw on his clothes double quick-time. He always had that weird modesty problem about his bare flesh, he freaked out just having his hands uncovered – not to speak of the time when Fon had very nearly unzipped the bike suit to get at a potential injury and ended up getting flung to the otherside of the room by the panicked flailing of the Cloud Arcobaleno who promptly hid himself _under_ Oodako.

Needless to say, Reborn could only say it was Cornello's fault and mercilessly mock his dumbass Lackey for being such a girl about getting seen naked when the door finally banged open.

_**000**_

Yuni had seen shadows stalking the Arcobaleno and stealing them away, she had gotten frightened and asked for them all to come and at least live in the same city if not the same house.

Skull had promptly freaked out about the idea of living in the same house as Reborn or Lal or Cornello and gone on a flat hunt of epic proportions in order to avoid just that – never mind that Reborn had his own near enough penthouse apartment courtesy of the Vongola. Yuni didn't mind that they didn't want to live with her, she was quite aware that her Uncles, brothers, and Aunty were very independent people who preferred to be in separate countries from each other at the best of times. The fact that they were willing to be in the same city at her request just proved how important she was to them.

Thankfully, Skull found a place not too far off from an abandoned train station. It was a modest little studio flat but it suited his needs nicely. It even had offroad parking for his bike – he had to sell the trailer as he couldn't have it shipped into Japan, his poor baby. A single room with an attached kitchen and a proper japanese side bathroom with a tub and shower, the kitchen had a few cupboards and an electric oven and stove. There was no washing machine but there was a pretty big fridge, and there was a laundrette down the road.

Rent was cheap, as were utility bills, and Skull got himself two part time jobs in order to pay for everything – even though Yuni was offering to deal with it all as it was her selfish fears that dragged them all to Japan. Skull wouldn't hear of it and firmly posted back all the money she sent to him. He did underground stunts in order to rake in cash (often getting over three hundred dollars in yen a night – and one memorable incident where he got almost three thousand), he did underground racing too which brought in even more money and made him both loved and hated by the local yakuza brats. In the off hours though, he took the piercings off, changed his make-up and got dressed up to play music at certain venues for even more money. He was often surprised how much people would pay just to get him to play the piano for them, but hey, he wasn't complaining. Like with his stunts, he never had to actually _learn_ learn how to play the instruments, they just came to him as easily as breathing. Just like mechanics and electronics. He was no scientist like Verde, but he would challenge that egg head to fix a toaster with a paperclip and a screw driver faster than him!

So far only Enma and Yuni had come to visit, but that was okay, his coffee kept going missing so it wasn't like he could provide refreshments for anyone else – they were the only people he knew who liked tea same as him.

_**000**_

Three months passed without incident, in fact, it seemed as though Yuni's foreseeing had been a mistake, or at least just a possible future. Either way, they all put the matter behind them and opted to return to their old lives after wishing the now fifteen year old girl a very happy birthday. They'd requisitioned one of the parks and literally occupied it entirely with several different Famiglias all there to wish their little Sky happy fifteenth.

Paddling pools were bought and set out, filled, and water pistols were handed out and lines were drawn. Picnic blankets were set out, balloons were tied here and there, music was played and fun was had. It was a beautiful summers day, clear blue skies, baking hot sun, and a breeze just light enough to cool overheated skin without snatching hats off heads of blow napkins off of plates. When Skull pulled up on his bike, he could only watch the chaos for a moment, grinning under his helmet as Cornello and Lal teamed up with Sasagawa Ryohei and Yamamoto Takeshi to attack Reborn and Gokudera Hayato with their waterpistols. Yuni was sat on a picnic blanket laughing along with Young Vongola and his girlfriend Sasagawa Kyoko, Byakuran, Bluebell, and the two little ones, Lambo and I-pin who were cheerily consuming food that Fon was bringing out of his bags. He spotted Viper floating off to the side, sipping something violently bright green and yellow in a glass while the VARIA rioted under him arguing with Rokudo Mukurou and his group of misfits – Verde observing from the side with Irie Shoichi and his blond companion Spanner.

Sawada Nana was almost blissful as she brought out her own cooking to share with her husband and the Vongola Noveno and his guardians. Skull could even see the Bucking Bronco fending off the Decimo's Cloud Guardian while trying to keep his snapping sponge turtle away from every source of water – it wasn't working out so well given that the animal had quadrupled in size to roughly the height of a Labrador.

He felt a pang of nostalgia but firmly pushed it away as he swung off his bike. He didn't try announcing himself as he had no desire to get shot in the face with that supersoaker in Reborn's hands, he had seen Reborn turn something as harmless as a British BB-gun into something capable of long ranged assassination from spare parts out of a kid's toy. He had very little doubt in his mind that the Sun Arcobaleno could turn that thing into a pressurised water gun. And he didn't want to test how lethal it was.

He quickly made his way to Yuni, only pulling his helmet off when he was close by and cheekily slipping his hands over her eyes, "Guess whooo?" he teased.

She laughed, as they both knew exactly who it was, he was the only person she knew who never ever took his leather gloves off, "Ahhhh, I don't know! Is it... Beiber-san?" she asked and Skull snatched his hands back as if burned.

"My lady! You wound me! I don't think I've ever been so insulted in my life!" he exclaimed playfully as she broke down into giggles and reached her arms up for hugs. "Happy Birthday, Sunspot," he told her, picking her up and twirling her around much to her delight.

Setting the birthday girl down, he got himself comfortable on the blanket along side them, handing out the presents he had hidden away in his backpack along with the food Tupperwares he had with him as well. He tried to ignore the sceptical look that Fon shot them, however much it stung. Yuni's delight over his gifts more than made up for it as she promptly flung her arms around his neck and thanked him profusely for them. He had gotten her a number of fantasy fiction books that he knew she liked, a sakura blossom stationary set including picture frame set, and a stuffed bear with a large orange ribbon – he had even dabbed some perfume he recalled Luce being fond of onto the bear so it would smell nice for her. She adored it and hadn't let it out of her grasp much to the albino Byakuran's amused approval. He was an odd one, that Byakuran. Skull had memories of the man actually legitimately managing to kill him properly, but for some reason, he seemed to find the Cloud Arcobaleno hilarious. Always laughing and congratulating him for some reason whenever they met. Apparently the white haired youth seemed to think he was playing the world's greatest prank and heartily approved of it. Grinning and positively _cackling_ with delight whenever Reborn started abusing him within eyeshot. As if that somehow made it all the more hilarious. Weird boy.

It was a pretty good day.

Everyone got roped into a huge water fight – and then a fight for their lives when dame-Tsuna managed to upend a paddling pool over Bucking Horse's turtle, and then Reborn threw it in a lake because he thought it would be funny.

The park got trashed, everyone was soaking wet, and now they had clustered around the barbecues that Iemitsu and the other members of CEDEF had brought along. Everyone was laughing and chatting and having a good time. Skull was still nursing a few bruises and commiserating with Enma about bullies and such all the while bantering backwards and forwards with Adelheid about having cow udders instead of breasts – she was on the verge of turning him into a Skull-sicle for it, but she was too busy laughing at a few of them to really get annoyed.

That was when it went from good, to bad.

_**000**_

In the midst of trying to fend off a playful Byakuran from dragging him up to dance, while Yuni laughed and did absolutely nothing to help – even going so far as to try and push him up into the albino's grasp – a loud female voice tore through the festivities and grabbed everyone's attention.

"IRIS LILLIAN POTTER!"

Skull wasn't the only one who jumped and whipped around at the sound.

She was an older woman, well, not that old. She looked as though she were in her early thirties and surprisingly athletic. She wore clothing a good fifty years out of fashion and was stomping over towards them in boots made of what looked like black snake-skin. Her thick crimson hair was pulled back from a stunningly pretty heart-shaped face and large doe-brown eyes, freckles patterned her face attractively and her slender athletic form was very _gifted_ in all areas of feminine interest.

She seemed to be glaring at Yuni who was the only girl in their little group next to Skull.

Hands moved toward legitimate weapons as the woman continued forward. Skull jumped to his feet and Yuni scrambled up hastily, hiding herself behind Byakuran who was watching the events unfold with fascination not even noticing when Reborn appeared and hustled the Sky Arcobaleno back. But... the red head did not even flick her eyes in their direction and kept marching forward to

SMACK

Skull grunted, his head thrown to the side from the woman's open palmed slap.

"THIRTY YEARS!" she screamed at him when he staggered back, rubbing his cheek with a deer in the headlights expression, staring at the woman in horror. "THIRTY YEARS IRIS! THIRTY DAMN YEARS! NO PATRONUS, NO OWL, NO FLOO, NOT EVEN A DAMN FELLYFONE CALL!" the woman screeched, grabbing Skull by the collar of his bike leathered and shaking him violently.

"Did she just say 'fellyfone', instead of telephone?" Cornello asked Lal in an undertone, unable to tear his eyes away from the proverbial train wreck in front of them.

"Yup," she summed up flatly, unsure of what to do.

"GYAAAAH! LEMME GO WOMAN!" Skull wailed, flailing his arms and trying to pull back. By this point everyone had given up any pretence of caring, Byakuran had literally fallen to the ground laughing himself stupid, arms wrapped around his stomach and kicking his legs out. Reborn and several others had gathered drinks and were now sitting back and watching with great amusement as this strange woman abused their Cloud. Other people had wondered off to do their own thing, only Tsuna, Enma, Adelheid, and Yuni were trying to diffuse the situation.

"A-ah! Please stop, miss!" Yuni pleaded even as Adelheid calmly stepped between the two and forcibly pried the red head's fingers away from Skull's neck. He immediately staggered back gagging and eyeing her like a timebomb, or Lal on the rag. Byakuran was still laughing, this time beating the ground with his fist, tears rolling down his flushed cheeks.

"I think there's been a case of mistaken identity here," Tsuna interjected as calmly as possible while Adelheid crowded Skull backwards a tad, her arms folded protectively as she glared at the older woman. The Glacier Guardian had always taken her duties as the 'elder sister' of Shimon seriously, and after the events of the Arcobaleno Battles, she considered Skull the Arcobaleno of the Shimon Famiglia. He fit right in after all, bandaids and social awkwardness, and all. So she considered herself his older sister too. The fact that currently she actually was older than him (physically) only contributed to the whole thing.

"There's no mistaken identity," the red head growled, her honey brown eyes narrowing.

Yuni shook her head, "But! That's Skull, my older brother!" she exclaimed pointedly. "And isn't Iris a girl's name?" she questioned.

The red head gave her a dark look that could have stripped paint, "Listen, little girl, I've been looking for _her_ for almost thirty years and known her since she was eleven." Skull spluttered in horror. "So I don't know what she's been telling you guys, but it's a damn lie. Iris, we're going home!" Red reached between the groups of people to grab at Skull who skipped back several spaces.

"Are you mad, woman?" he shrieked, "Look at me! How can _I_, the great Skull-sama, be a girl?! I have no boobs! Look at my shoulders! I don't even have an ass!" he shrieked.

"Well you never had any tits or ass to speak of in the first place, so I don't see what you're trying to insinuate!" the red head snapped, making Skull flinch back and grimace.

"Ruuuude," he whined unhappily, "What I'm trying to say is that I'm not a girl! And I'm not even thirty yet! Look at me!" he wailed, gesturing to himself.

She huffed and rolled her eyes. "There's one very easy way to know whether or not you're Iris or not. Wipe the make up off," she ordered folding her arms as Skull suddenly went very, very still. There was a long silence, "Well? What are you waiting for? Wipe it off."

"No," was the very quiet reply. Reborn actually lowered his drink at the other Arcobaleno's tone of voice, an eyebrow climbing his forehead as he glanced between Fon and Lal who shook their heads in confusion. They had no clue what that was all about. "Look lady, I don't have to prove a damn thing to you. Quite frankly, you've ruined what had been a very nice evening and interrupted a little lady's special birthday party. So I think it's high time you left. I'm not your precious Iris, whoever she is. I would suggest getting yourself a pair of glasses so the mistake doesn't happen again!" he snapped at her, suddenly full of spite and malice, pulling down an eyelid and sticking his tongue out at her.

Reborn sneered at the blatant disrespect and promptly kicked his Lackey in the head, "That's no way to speak to a lady, Lackey," he reprimanded sharply, and then pointedly ignored the furious screeching and complaints from the Cloud Guardian as he almost literally flashed over to the young woman and pressed a kiss to her knuckles, charm turned up full power.

There were almost simultaneous huffs of amusement, disbelief, and exasperation from all assembled. Reborn. Typical.

_**000**_

While Reborn kept the red head occupied, Skull hastily made his exit, giving Yuni an extra tight hug and a promise to visit somewhen in the future, teach her how to ride a motorbike properly. He even had plans to get her a set of bike leathers in white, pink, and orange, just for her, helmet too. They would see if she liked being on a motorbike before thinking of getting her one custom built to her like his was.

The fit the woman, Ginny, threw when she realised that Skull had escaped would have been amusing if she hadn't been so furious about it. She refused to tell them much about this 'Iris Potter' woman, just that she had run away about thirty years ago, not even finishing her schooling, in order to avoid an arranged marriage to the girl's older brother. If she didn't marry him, then he would be forced to marry the granddaughter of the man who murdered his uncles, someone who, if they hadn't bought their way out, should have been in jail herself.

When the party came to an end, Reborn decided that it was high time he did a little digging – if only for an excuse to mock Skull with the information later. So he sat down at his kitchen table, opened up his laptop, put his coffee maker on, and settled in for a long night of hacking.

"So, who is Iris Potter..."

_**000**_

Skull was flustered. He was flustered and distracted and dangerous.

Because Cornello startled him.

And then Skull threw Cornello out of a window.

Lal threw him out after him.

_**000**_

Skull took jobs obsessively for the next week, he slept very little, pausing in the middle of everything he did to listen for unwelcome footsteps. The missing Coffee started freaking him out to the point where he stopped buying it – and then started finding it in the cupboard anyway. That really freaked him out and he started getting more and more careful about coming and going from his out. He set traps here and there, sometimes he would come back and find them dismantled – that night he would sleep on the roof instead of in his flat.

By the time the week was out, he'd managed to accrue enough money to vanish. New identity, new papers, new life. Hard copies and electronic copies. If he paid enough, they would exist. And he had enough. He had worked his ass off in the races, on the stunts, even at the gigs. He'd gotten together about sixty thousand dollars in yen, on top of his savings of three hundred thousand.

That was enough money to make a new life.

His paranoia was probably what saved him.

_**000**_

He drove two blocks away from his flat and turned the bike engine off, swinging off and walking the machine back towards his flat. Paranoia telling him not to let his engine be heard as he got closer to the flat. He had been doing this all week now, eyes sharp, heart racing in terror as he got closer to the house.

And then he saw it.

That ripple of light under a street-lamp, like someone under chameleon skin. Someone wearing golf-cleets and harem pants with a cardigan. Another one in a kilt and poncho. He could even _smell_ Mundungus from where he was hidden on the other side of the street behind a wall. They were watching his flat, like he knew they would eventually. Really, they didn't change in the slightest. Glancing around, he quickly wheeled his bike away, going around in a wide arc and parking it up in the abandoned train-station.

He then took a running jump, agilely scaling the near-by wall and then climbing onto the roof where he took a look around. It shouldn't be too difficult to get to his flat. He lived on the second floor above a small flowershop and those idiots were guarding the drive _into_ the building at the front, the stairs were at the back of the house. He took a second running jump, landing on his tiptoes on a railing that he very carefully jogged over and then climbed onto a second roof before sprinting forward and leaping over to the second roof.

It took ten minutes in total with a lot of pausing to make sure he hadn't been heard before he landed on the roof of his flat and climbed down onto the stairs up to his flat. The people guarding for him didn't even notice as he stealthily unlocked and slipped in.

_**000**_

Reborn blinked slowly, staring down at the purple haired man in front of him. He had opted to stay at the Giglio Nero house that night as he planned on leaving for Italy the next day, the last person he expected to call at two o'clock in the morning was the Cloud Arcobaleno. Especially with what looked like a hastily packed bag slung over one shoulder and a wild anxious look in the, typically flighty but usually self-reliant, Arcobaleno's eye.

Skull grimaced, "Is Yuni in?" he asked not meeting the Hitman's gaze.

"Skull-nii? What's the matter?" And then Yuni was there, worming herself under Reborn's elbow to stand in front of him, dressed in her night clothes, hair mussed up, but still concerned.

Skull's grimace twisted a little, "Ah, I need a place to stay for a bit. Until I can sort out a VISA and some new papers, I'll be out of your hair before you know it, promise," he said by means of explanation.

"Lackey," Reborn grunted, narrowing his eyes, "What's wrong with your place?" he demanded. He knew full well Skull lived in a fairly nice studio flat not far from the abandoned train station - Reborn made a point of dropping in now and then while the irritance was out just to steal his coffee and sweep the place for bugs and threats (no once was allowed to fuck with his Lackey but him). He wouldn't leave that place unless there was something wrong.

"N-no nothing wrong with it, nothing at all!" was the too swift answer. Something was massively wrong then. Something that he didn't want anyone getting caught up with so it must be personal.

Reborn sniffed in irritation, trust his Lackey to cause him extra trouble. On top of the headache that the incident with the woman in the park earlier had caused. "Keep the porch light on Yuni. I'll be back late," he told the little girl, patting her on the head.

His Lackey knew him all too well though because the hastily packed dufflebag over his shoulder hit the ground just as a hand wrapped around Reborn's elbow, unyieldingly powerful in a way that was severely out of character and shocking for the undead stuntman. "Senpai, leave it. Please! It has nothing to do with you," the Cloud pleaded, that edgy look back in his eyes. His Lackey was hiding something about all this. Something big.

Reborn kicked him in the head, throwing him into the door frame, he ignored Yuni's chiding snap as he planted a foot firmly in the Stuntman's gut and dug his heel in, "Don't presume to tell me what to do, Lackey."

Skull's face was twisted in pain as he grabbed the hitman's ankle, "S-senpai, d-don't inter-fere," he hissed through gritted teeth.

The Sun Arcobaleno sneered and withdrew his foot, marching off and leaving the purple haired youth to slump to the ground retching. Curiosity burned in his veins as he left the manor grounds and began to make his way to Skull's former accommodation. Whatever it was he didn't want Reborn to see, or find, he was going to dig out. And then he was going to torture the truth out of his lying little Lackey and punish him for being less than honest with him.

_**000**_

Reborn came back the next morning, not remembering why he had even left in the first place.

Skull freaked out and grabbed his things, sprinting for the door before Reborn caught him and demanded to know what the hell was going on, because while he _knew_ what he did last night, he couldn't remember actually _doing_ it. And that wasn't natural. Which meant someone had fucked with his memory and his damn Lackey knew it!

That was when the windows shattered and several people came running in with wooden sticks shouting and screaming.

The whole place erupted into chaos as the Arcobaleno reacted with their typical swift ruthlessness, Guns, Box Animals, Flames, and those sticks that shot coloured light here and there that make things come to life or catch fire or explode. It was chaos. Yuni screamed as one of the intruders grabbed her – right before Skull's foot smashed into their face, breaking both nose, jaw, and probably knocking several teeth out as he hustled the young girl behind him away from the fighting.

He paid no mind to the person he had just kicked aside, just that they had a stick pointed in Yuni's direction and they had grabbed the terrified fifteen year old Princess. That was enough reason to introduce the tread of his boot to their nose in his opinion.

"Skull-nii! Look out!" Yuni screamed, pointing over his shoulder and – stupidly – he turned.

And got a cutting curse across his chest, hip to shoulder.

Blood flew.

Yuni screamed.

_**000**_

"That blow nearly cut you in half, Skull! Sit still and let me take a look!" Fon snarled, his serene temper reaching the end of its tether as the stubborn Cloud Arcobaleno continued to scramble away from him, clutching the ragged edges of his bike suit tightly to his body, ignoring the puddles of blood he left in his wake as he evaded the Martial Artist's grasp.

"No! I'm fine! I'm already regenerating! Lemme alone, Fon!" he squealed, twisting away, yet again, from the Martial Artist who was getting heartily fed up of trying to catch him – it should have been easy! He was the greatest Martial Artist in the world! He shouldn't be finding it so difficult to grab hold of the weakest in their group!

BAM

Reborn kicked him in the head as he passed, throwing the Cloud to the ground with a painfilled shriek – giving Fon enough time to pounce.

"You're getting blood all over Yuni's floor, Lackey!" the Sun barked, in no mood to put up with their idiot Cloud who brought all thi-

Was that...

"LEMME GO!" Skull wailed, trying to slap Fon's hands away as the Martial Artist peeled back the ruined leather to reveal blood soaked bandages and shredded padding.

"Hmm, it doesn't look so bad. But I'll need to get these bandages off to make certain," the Martial Artist observed, ignoring the way Skull promptly blanched and redoubled his efforts to escape as the Storm Arcobaleno pulled a blade and gathered up the material.

"HIEEEEEEEE NONONONONOSTOPIT FON NO!"

He sliced through it with a jerk of his wrist, ignoring the near enough dying shriek of the Cloud Guardian and...

Those were...

The two men stared.

Skull swung up and clocked Fon clean over the jaw, throwing the Storm off him before scrambling up and sprinting away.

_**000**_

Skull had hidden in the upstairs bathroom. The trail of blood wasn't difficult to follow.

Explaining to Yuni and the others why Skull had been screaming as if they were murdering him was a little more difficult, and resulted in everyone clustering at the bathroom door to try and coax the Cloud out and get all this sorted.

It wasn't going so well.

_**000**_

"Skull, open the door, damn Lackey!" Reborn snarled, punching said door.

"Hell no!" the now identified girl squeaked. "Go away Senpai!"

"Skull-ku-chan, why did you not tell us the truth?" Fon interjected, shooting Reborn a quelling glare as he tried to diffuse the situation he had inadvertently caused.

An almost hysterical laugh came from the otherside of the bathroom door, "And be subjected to Senpai's idea of flirting?! No thanks!"

Reborn's temper audibly snapped as he punched the wall, the resulting squeal from behind the door providing a surprising balm to his fury, but only increasing his irritation. "As if I'd waste my time on you, Lackey!" the hitman snarled.

Skull laughed a tad hysterically, "Like hell! You couldn't stop flirting with women even if you were under pain of death! You spent most of your time flirting and hitting on Luce ignoring the fact that she was both pregnant, married, and the Don of her own famiglia! Screw you Reborn, you couldn't keep it in your pants under threat of syphilis!" she screeched through the door.

Cornello choked with laughter while Lal had to clamp down on her own giggle of agreement while Reborn's ears glowed red in embarrassment.

"Lackey..." he growled in a dark undertone.

"Hieeeee!" Skull shrieked from the otherside of the door at the sound - they could hear her scrambling away a moment before Reborn's foot went clean through the wood and sent it hurtling to the otherside of the bathroom, literally just skimming over the top of the Cloud Arcobaleno's head from where she was hiding in the bathtub. The door clattered down over the top of her, effectively sealing her into the bathtub as the Sun Arcobaleno stalked in, glaring fit to kill as large purple eyes peeked out from the gap between the door and the tub. There was a squeak and they vanished.

_**000**_

Lal and Yuni shooed the others away so they could clean Skull up. As predicted, he – she didn't need any stitches as all that remained by the time they'd cleaned off all the blood was a large large angry red line.

"Oh my god, Skull, where – we didn't cause these, did we?" Lal asked, horrified as her fingers traced the younger girl's body as she sat, hunched up and miserable on the shower stool and just let the others do as they wished as, once again, no surprise, she had no say in the matter.

"No. They're... before you," she informed them in an undertone as Lal's fingers stilled.

Without the bike suit, without the make-up and the piercings, Skull was... Skull looked a lot younger than the twenty years she should have been. She was scrawny, and thin, with every rib visible and every muscle toned. But that wasn't the horrifying thing. Almost every inch of skin was scarred, big ones, little ones, ones made by knives, acid, burns, some were words like 'Whore', 'Mudblood', 'Trash', 'Filth', on the back of her hand was 'I must not tell lies', and her back had evidence of whipping. They hadn't even spared her face. Scars etched across most of it, some of the bigger ones Lal noticed lined up with where she usually put those little white band-aids, they thought it had just been a fashion statement...

Skull was tiny. And Lal felt sick to her stomach as the younger girl shivered miserably on the shower stool, wet hair clinging to her bony shoulders and scarred cheeks, foundation and blood sloughing off her skin with every drop of water from the shower above. She glanced over at Yuni who was gently washing away blood with tears streaming down her cheeks silently.

"Yuni, go and get a change of clothes. Large and long-sleeved," she told the younger girl.

Yuni nodded and got to her feet, "Skull-neechan..." she whimpered before throwing her arms around the older girl, not caring his her clothes got wet or a little bloody or covered in make-up. She just clung to the twenty year old woman and sobbed out apologies as wiry but strong arms wrapped around her and hugged back just as tightly. Lal sighed quietly, letting her sponge drop before she gathered both younger females into her arms, ignoring the shower head that pounded hot water over her clothed back as she held them.

_**000**_

"How did we not notice?" Cornello asked, stunned.

All the male Arcobaleno were gathered in the downstairs drawing room, staring into the fireplace in varying states of stunned, shocked, and disbelieving. Reborn was leaning against the bookcase in the corner, scowling out of the windows as it started raining. Viper was curled up in one of the armchairs, pretending to ignore them all. Verde was perched on the sofa next to an equally silent and introspective Fon while Cornello paced up and down in front of the fireplace, feeling heat prickle the back of his legs as... as he just tried to wrap his mind around what they had just been told.

Skull was a girl?

Since when?

_HOW?!_

"We didn't want to," Viper explained bluntly cutting off any further speculation.

_**000**_

Reborn's mind was swimming.

His dumbass Lackey was a lady and he had never noticed, not once when he was kicking, punching, shooting, or abusing him – _her_. He should have _noticed!_ He prided himself on being able to tell these things! He had even been able to pin-point that man on the Russian Job, before this whole Arcobaleno business started, was actually a woman. Not to mention that assassin who pretended to be a hooker in order to get closer to his marks – that was a stunningly beautiful man, but still a man in a dress pretending to be a woman and Reborn could _tell_. So why? _Why_ could he not tell when his own damn Lackey, his Lackey whom he had been beating on for years, whose ass he'd saved and kicked, why could he not tell that Skull was a woman?

Even when he and Cornello had walked into her trailer and seen her holding women's underwear, they had just assumed it didn't belong to her – after all, there were women in the audience of his last show throwing them at the young stuntman. Which kind of explained why he had a high opinion of himself when they first met if that was the kind of public opinion he was used to receiving. Going from crowds of people loving, and adoring what you did to a dirty back room with the scum of the criminal underworld all calling you brat and Lackey must have... been jarring.

It also explained why they'd never seen him with any girl. They'd all heard him lamenting and loudly commenting on girls' assets, but only assumed he was complaining over his lack of girlfriend. Damn Lackey had played them.

He looked up, scowling darkly as the drawing room door opened and Yuni came in, Lal following behind while pushing Skull. That was when Reborn wanted to start breaking things, lots of things, as his hands twitched spasmodically with repressed violence.

Skull was a girl. Someone had carved up her face _very_ deliberately.

_**000**_

"I... It's hard to explain," Skull admitted quietly, her knees drawn up to her chest as she huddled miserably on her armchair next to the fire. Both Lal and Yuni had taken up flanking positions at her side, Lal with her arm over the Cloud's shoulder and Yuni sat beside her instead of on the arm of the chair – it only highlighted just how tiny Skull was without the padded leather that gave her a much more masculine form.

"Starting at the beginning is usually best," Fon suggested gently. Being the most level headed it became a unanimous unvoiced decision that he would handle the interrogation of their skittish Cloud.

Reborn continued to lurk in the back, arms folded so Skull wouldn't see his hands, fedora shadowing the murderous expression on his face. She always reacted badly to his anger, to anyone's anger.

"Okay... Um, really, it starts before I was born, back in World War II. In a town called Little Hangleton. There was a very wealthy family who lived there called the Riddles. Their son, Tom, was very arrogant, but pretty handsome. Enough so that the daughter of the town's crazy fell in love with him. Her brother, furious that she fell for someone of 'lesser' blood, went into a rage and attacked Tom Riddle. He was arrested, and Merope, the young girl, was left to fend for herself. She drugged Tom Riddle into eloping with her. They ran away and some time later, she fell pregnant. Believing he would do the right thing, she took him off the drug. But he ran. Merope was left homeless on the streets of London, where she eventually staggered into Wool's Orphanage to give birth. She lived long enough to name her son before passing on. Tom Marvolo Riddle, named for his father Tom, and her father Marvolo, was born a sociopath, and his environment and upbringing during the blitz did not help his mental health.

"He tortured the other orphans, small animals, he murdered a girl at school at fifteen and pinned it on a younger student, he then went on to kill his father and paternal grandparents that summer, and pin it on his deranged maternal uncle. He kept killing even after he left school. Eventually he gathered together a gang of sorts, a terrorist group, and began to attack those he thought of as blood traitors, or mudbloods. Hundreds of people were tortured, maimed, and killed. He had pretty much gelded our government, corrupted the entire establishment.

"The year before I was born, one of his people overheard the Headmaster of his old school, and a woman known for her foresight discussing a child that would be born at the end of July. A child who had the power to kill him. So, he waited until said child was born and attacked the moment he was able to. That person ended up being me. I don't know what happened, no one does, just that something exploded, and destroyed his body. With both my parents dead, I was sent to live with my mother's sister while my Godfather was accused of treason and thrown into jail without trial.

"Tom Riddle managed to regain a body by the time I was fourteen, he abducted myself and another student, murdered him, tortured me. I managed to escape but when I tried to tell people, they accused me of lying. For almost a year he was allowed to work in secret without anyone being the wiser. It got my godfather killed. The following year the School Headmaster who had been leading the small vigilante group that stopped the worst of the attacks was murdered by a spy, by then the Government was lost. Myself and my friends went into hiding. It took a year, but we managed to end the war, we managed to kill Tom Riddle again, properly this time. It only took me dying to do it."

Cornello snorted, "Not that big a thing then," he stated flippantly, only to receive a glare from his fiancée and their Sky.

Skull shook her head, "I wasn't Immortal back then," she stated quietly, making all of them pause. "He took the school hostage and said... said that if I didn't present myself to him... he would kill everyone. Even the little ones. So I went. And... I died." She shrugged, picking at her toes, not looking at any of them. Reborn could tell she was leaving a lot out, he twitched a little as he felt one of his fingernails pierce the flesh of his palm.

"There was a choice. I could have moved on. Died. A lot of people who end up there don't... don't have the clarity to understand what's going on. It just feels natural to keep going. They don't realise that you can turn around. Going back just... they don't think about it. But, because my family have _always_ had a thing with Death, he gave me the option. And I took it. I came back. I didn't realise it meant I could never move on until natural causes take me."

"So that's how it happened," Lal murmured, "I had wondered how you went about being immortal," she admitted, rubbing the purple haired girl's shoulder. Skull shot her a tired smile.

"That doesn't explain this marriage thing," Reborn broke in sharply, he swallowed back the demand to know about the scars, dark eyes trailing down each of the deep furrows in the Cloud's cheeks with barely repressed fury. Slow, deep, _deliberate_.

She flinched and he gritted his teeth, tightening the unseen fist, just to feel the pain of his pierced flesh in order to keep calm.

"T-Tom, he... He killed a lot of people. And we didn't have a high population to begin with. The Government was panicking about our people dying out so... so they started drafting up a Marriage Law. Y'know, selective breeding and what not. Avoid the already pretty rampant inbreeding with the Purebloods, stop squibs, keep the lines powerful. Because of my role in the war... there were... there were _bidding_ wars, over who would take me." She shuddered violently, hugging her knees as her voice broke. "I-I didn't stick around. If it was money... If it was money then o-only one family was guaranteed to win and I..." Her hand drifted up to the scars on her cheeks.

BAM!

Everyone jumped as Reborn's fist smashed into the bookcase behind him.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that the person who gouged her cheeks was likely as not a member of the family who could afford to win the bidding war for her. "And that Ginny girl, she's from that family?" he snarled, and then bit his tongue when the purple haired girl recoiled violently into her seat.

She shook her head, "I didn't stick around to know who would win. Ginny comes from a poor family. Ron, her brother, was my bestfriend. We've been pretty much inseparable since we were eleven. He... He helped smuggle me out of the country with his older brother Charlie's help."

So she didn't know about her engagement to the girl's brother. Which one he didn't know. But apparently Skull left before finding out. And now, thirty years on, they tracked her down and were trying to force her to come back again.

_**000**_

"I haven't seen Reborn that pissed in a long time," Cornello muttered as he shed his shirt.

Lal snorted as she climbed into bed, "It's less anger, more guilt. Reborn's very proud of the fact he's a gentleman. He's old fashioned like that. Plus, as far as he's concerned, Skull belongs to him. Always has. Finding out that the idiot Lackey he's been kicking around like a football for years is actually a girl, and a heavily tortured and abused one at that, it's like getting kicked in the balls to him," she explained as she wormed her way down under the covers, getting herself comfortable as Cornello continued to strip, heedless to her admiring gaze.

"Yeah, but he didn't snap like that when Yuni got dragged into the whole Byakuran thing. Or when Chrome-chan was abducted by Shimon. Or even when Sawada Nana-san was attacked by the Vindice."

Lal chuckled, "But they weren't _his_. Reborn's a complex one when it comes to girls, but he's also stupidly simple. Skull belongs to him, male or female. Skull is _his_ Lackey. And his Lackey got hurt. Got hurt badly. And then he _kept_ hurting her. Without ever realising that she was a girl. Reborn's dealing with his rage issues over someone hurting a girl, guilt that he had _also_ been hurting a girl, confusion and anger over not _noticing_ she was a girl, and a whole lot of other things. Skull flinching every time he makes an abrupt movement certainly isn't helping his temper."

Cornello snorted as he climbed into the bed and gathered his Rainstorm up into his arms. "Out of everyone who could be a surprise woman... Skull never factored in. We all assumed it was Viper pretending to be a guy."

_**000**_

**And Chapter one end. **

**Originally, this was going to be an epic length one-shot. But there was just too much of it. So I've decided to cut it down. Hope you've enjoyed things so far. **

**Skull really doesn't get enough love.**


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